Well another season on the Fraser has come to an end for us, our boats are put away in the shop, waders and lifejackets are hanging and our reels are heading to the repair shop for some love’n. For the next several weeks we will take a well deserved break, then begin our preparation for the 2014 steelhead season and spring Sturgeon and Chinook fishery. Below we have included a pre-season report as well as some Christmas Gift Specials from STS.

For those of you who have already started your Christmas Shopping, STS has several gift ideas for the angler in your home. Our River seminars are very popular and sell out each year. For 2014 we are offering our Steelhead Seminar, Sturgeon Seminar and River Jet Boating Seminar. You can find more information on this site or go to our seminar page. We are also selling our very popular sturgeon hoodies designed by Fishbum Outfitters and our extremely popular Hells Gate Tours.

Christmas Gift Ideas from STS Guiding Service

1 day Sturgeon Seminar – http://www.guidebc.com/seminar_sturgeon.asp

1 day River Jet Boat Seminar – http://www.guidebc.com/seminar_jetboat.asp

Instructional Steelhead – http://www.guidebc.com/seminar_floatsteelhead.asp

We also have several specials available when you book two or more seminars, receive a FREE STS Hoodie or get a discounted rate.

These Hoodies are also available FOR SALE and make a great Christmas Gift for only $50, we will pay for shipping anywhere in North America.

Hells Gate Jet Boat Tours

For the 2014 season STS will be offering two tours, our very popular 4 hour Hope to Hells Gate for $139.00 and our 2 hour Hope to Sailor Bar for $99.00

Both these tours are available from July 1 to Sept 30 on both weekends and week days. These are great for Christmas gifts.

Fraser Valley Fishing Report

Early December is what we like to refer to as a transitional period or diehard crazy. The weather is quite cold, peak salmon season is over and steelhead season is still several weeks away. Why I say diehard crazy is that most of our guides and local anglers have fished hard since August and now would be a good time to take a break and wait for some steelhead to show up. Instead the diehard crazy’s are still out trying to find that last chrome Coho or first steelhead of the year.

STS Head Guide Tom Pearce with a beauty Steelhead caught in 2013 season.

For those of you who are Diehard Crazy, there are still nice chrome Coho out there to catch. This past Fall was some of the best Coho fishing we have seen in many years on the Fraser and local tributaries so if you can bare the cold, it is probably worth your time. The Harrison would be my first choice but the Chehalis would be a close second. Put the big gear away and bring out that low water gear, my favorite for December Coho is a 9ft to 9ft 6" drift rod with a single egg patter with a bit of white wool or a fly rod set up dead drifting glo bugs.

Talk about Diehard Crazy, They don’t anymore crazy than STS Guide Thomas Rutschmann.

The great thing about using lighter gear is that not only do you have a good chance at catching all those cutthroat trout that are feeding on Coho eggs

But there is a good chance that you will pick up that first steelhead of the year. If you only have a 10ft 6 river rod it will work fine, I just prefer a shorter rod when water is low and clear.

Sturgeon Fishing the Fraser

We will be taking a break from Sturgeon fishing over the winter months as will resume fishing when water temperatures begin to increase in middle of March. You might see us out a few days tagging some juvenile sturgeon but for the most part we prefer to leave these fish to rest during the peak winter months. 2013 was a great season for sturgeon on the Fraser with many large sturgeon caught by our guests from around the world. We are truly blessed to have such a fishery in our back yards.

Winter Chinook Fishing

Winter Chinook fishing can be quite good in the Vancouver area, these fish are between 8 to 12lbs and can offer some good action. This fishery is also very inconsistent but again when it is on, you can have some great days on the water. We are so lucky to not only have this fishery in our back yards but even more so to have one of Canada’s best lure manufacture making gear specifically for us to go out and catch fish.

Gibbs/Delta has been around forever, they are located in Delta and work closely with local guides like STS and Bon Chovy to design and dial in some of the most productive flashers and tackle available on the market. If you’re looking for some inexpensive tackle for Christmas Gifts, drop by your local tackle store and pick up some of those new Highliner flashers and G-Force Spoons that are hot for both winter and summer Chinook.

During the 2013 fishing season we mounted a Drift Camera on one of our boats and did quite a bit of filming. Although we are no expert at filming fishing, we did get some great footage in both the Mission area, Vancouver salmon and canyon sturgeon. Over the winter we will be posting these video’s on our new YOUTUBE channel so please check it out and subscribe to our channel. We will ENTER YOU TO WIN A FREE GUIDED FISHING TRIP if you subscribe before Dec 31.

www.youtube.com/channel/UC39DLQHP8fGPjrKRODvCh9w

Last but not least we would like t thank all of our friends and guests that fished with STS this past season, thank you so much for your support and we hope to see you back in 2014 for some more sore arms, great fun and laughs. 2014 is going to be an exciting year for us as it will be our 20th anniversary on the water as STS Guiding Service.

We will be offering some great deals and have some exciting new clothing designed by FISHBUM OUTFITTERS.

Have a great holiday amd Merry Christmas from all of us at STS.

Vic Carrao

Want to get the most up to date fishing reports from the water ? You can either join our facebook page or go to our fishing blog site at https://blog.guidebc.com/ and click on the " follow us" button.

Like us – http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/STS-Guiding-Service/220035516172

Join our mailing list – http://visitor.r20.constantcontact.com/d.jsp?llr=vi9yq5bab&p=oi&m=1101609593109

After a short 2 week holiday it is time to get back to work. Although we are not actively fishing right now we are beginning to prepare for the winter steelhead and spring sturgeon and salmon season. We are also preparing for what should be an excellent 2014 season as this will be our 20 anniversary season so we are very excited.

This logo will be on all of our clothing for 2014 season

Christmas is coming fast so we will be offering a few special deals to get the year started. Along with some specials posted below we will also once again be offering our River Jet Boat Seminars and Sturgeon Seminars. Both these seminars sell out each year and make for great affordable Christmas gifts.

Fraser River Jet Boat Seminar – Mission to Hells Gate ( 240km round trip)

This seminar is for boat owners wanting to learn river navigation of the Fraser or avid water lovers who just want to go for a ride of a lifetime. If you own a jet boat or are planning to buy one, this seminar is a must. We spend the entire day on the Fraser and will cover all aspects of river navigation including how to read water and run whitewater.

2014 dates – Saturday April 12 or Sunday April 20

We have also planned our Sturgeon seminar on these same two weekends so if you are traveling from up north it will be worth your while to do both seminars and enjoy a great weekend with Vic Carrao owner of STS.

Cost is $195 p/p including lunch

Fraser River Sturgeon Seminar – Fishing the Fraser for White Sturgeon

This seminar is for any angler wishing to learn or improve their catch rates for Fraser River White Sturgeon. We will cover all aspects of how, when, where and what to use as well as handling and gear types for various conditions.

2014 dates – Sunday April 13 or Saturday April 19

Cost is $175 p/p

20th Anniversary Special – sign up for both the Sturgeon Seminar and Jet Boat Seminar and receive a new STS Hoodie or $350 for both seminars.

STS Swag for Christmas – we still have a few STS Hoodies in stock before our new clothing arrives, we have a few ladies hoodies, and men’s in most sizes. Our regular rate is $50 plus tax, order now on-line and we will ship for FREE anywhere in North America. These make for great Christmas Gifts.

Holiday Seat Sale for Hells Gate Jet Boat Tours

Book 2 seats for one of our 4 hour Hope to Hells Gate Jet Boat Tours and get the 3rd seat for 1/2 price.

Must be purchased before Dec 31, 2013, valid for any tour in 2014.

WIN A FREE GUIDED FISHING TRIP WITH STS

We just started working on our NEW Youtube page and have posted a few video’s from 2013 season. Subscribe to our page and we will enter you to win . It’s easy as that. http://www.youtube.com/channel/UC39DLQHP8fGPjrKRODvCh9w

We are not done yet, drop back and visit our site for more specials and deals as we get closer to 2014.

Have a great week

Vic Carrao

Fishing remains good on our local rivers for both salmon and sturgeon, the big talk this year has been around the incredible Coho Fishing. Even as late as yesterday our guides were still producing chrome silver Coho using Gibbs Crocs and Ultra Lures. There is 3 areas that we have been doing well, Harrison, Stave and main stem Fraser between Dewdney Slough and Hatzic Flats, Reports of good Coho fishing are also coming from Norish Creek.

Chum fishing is also very good and will produce results well into late November, we are mostly float fishing with jigs and fly fishing but they can also be taken using Gibbs Spoons as well. Both the Stave and Harrison confluence is producing fresh chum on each high tide. Best to check your tides and try to fish the incoming if you are fishing the Stave R, for the Harrison try fishing about 2 hours after high tide reaches Mission for best push of fish.

This has been one of the best seasons we have seen for sturgeon fishing on the Fraser, lots of big fish this year and our team is still landing the big ones on a daily basis. Although we are starting to wind down we will continue to offer sturgeon trips until last weekend in November, then we will be taking a break for a few months and allow these fish to rest in their wintering holes. If you plan on going out this weekend, Chum roe is your best bait, rotten salmon is also working but fresh eggs are producing best results.

Our Jet Boat Tours are done for another season, this was our busiest year ever and would like to thank everyone who journeyed up the Fraser Canyon with me. We are already getting booked for next summer/fall so be sure to book early for 2014. Speaking of 2014, STS Guiding Service will be celebrating our 20th year in business and will be offering some great incentives to book early. Stay tuned and if you don’t already follow our blog or face book page, you can join us by following this link.
https://www.facebook.com/pages/STS-Guiding-Service/220035516172

Our 2014 Salmon /Halibut Adventures are now open to the public, our previous groups from this past season have all re-booked their dates and we are now opening up dates for July and early August. We have 3 dates open for July, these are prime dates for groups up to 8 people. Accommodations are provided by Whales Reach Lodge, guided fishing is provided by STS Guiding Service. We will have 3 boats to serve you this season so get your booking done soon before it is too late.

Last but not least, we are off to Costa Rica for some well-deserved RR. Teresa and I will be spending as much time on the water as we can so keep coming back to see what we are catching. If you are ever considering heading down to CR for some fishing, give us a call and we can help you out. We also might be able to rent you our home located in one of the best fishing region of CR.

My oldest daughter Nicole helping the old man with his first ever Mahi Mahi

My favorite is Rooster Fishing.

Tight Lines

Vic Carrao